The Greatest Books of All Time on Existence

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
200 The Book of Disquiet Fernando Pessoa 1982 Portuguese Portuguese
238 A Season in Hell Arthur Rimbaud 1873 French French
270 Malone Dies Samuel Beckett 1951 Irish French
276 Life, a User's Manual Georges Perec 1978 French French
373 The Duino Elegies Rainer Maria Rilke 1923 German German
394 Nadja André Breton 1928 French French
398 The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge Rainer Maria Rilke 1910 German German
408 The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus 1942 French French
445 I'm Not Stiller Max Frisch 1954 Swiss German
465 Collected Poems Wallace Stevens 1954 American English
479 Four Quartets T. S. Eliot 1943 British English
517 Being and Time Martin Heidegger 1927 German German
532 The Passion According to G.H. Clarice Lispector 1964 Brazilian Portuguese
603 Barabbas Par Lagerkvist 1950 Swedish Swedish
631 The Bridge of San Luis Rey Thornton Wilder 1927 American English
736 Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam Edward FitzGerald 1859 British English
898 My Struggle Karl Ove Knausgård 2009 Norwegian Norwegian
1030 Meditations on First Philosophy Rene Descartes 1641 French Latin
1171 Residence on Earth Pablo Neruda 1933 Chilean Spanish
1286 The Invention Of Morel Adolfo Bioy Casares 1940 Argentinian Spanish
1290 Lilith George MacDonald 1895 Scottish English
1304 Collected Poems Stéphane Mallarmé 1887 French French
1357 I and Thou Martin Buber 1923 Austrian German
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
1479 The Wall Marlen Haushofer 1963 Austrian German
1515 The World as Will and Idea Arthur Schopenhauer 1818 German German
1619 Nostalgia Mircea Cărtărescu 1989 Romanian Romanian
1644 The Nature of Things Francis Ponge 1942 French French
1657 Essays and Aphorisms Arthur Schopenhauer 1851 German German
1780 Poems of Pablo Neruda Pablo Neruda 1970 Chilean Spanish
1822 Small Lives Pierre Michon 1984 French French
1828 The Mysterious Stranger Mark Twain 1916 American English
1835 Sophie's World Jostein Gaarder 1991 Norwegian Norwegian
1886 Poems, New And Collected, 1957 1997 Wislawa Szymborska 1998 Polish Polish
1905 The Road to Klockrike Harry Martinson 1948 Swedish Swedish
1922 Tropisms Nathalie Sarraute 1939 French French
1962 The Prose Of The Trans Siberian Blaise Cendrars 1913 French French
1969 Poppy And Memory Paul Celan 1950 German German
1979 Furor and Mystery René Char 1948 French French
2113 The Luminous Novel Mario Levrero 2005 Uruguayan Spanish
2245 Poems Of Gottfried Benn Gottfried Benn 1948 German German
2279 Poems of Eugenio Montale Eugenio Montale 1925 Italian Italian
2323 The Sixty Five Years Of Washington Juan José Saer 1983 Argentine Spanish
2380 The Will To Power Friedrich Nietzsche 1901 German German
2558 Death Sentence Maurice Blanchot 1948 French French
2560 The Human Condition Hannah Arendt 1958 German English
2572 A Longing For The Light Vicente Aleixandre 1979 Spanish Spanish
2581 Scenes From The Life Of A Faun Arno Schmidt 1953 German German
2636 The Lament Of The Linnet Anna Maria Ortese 1997 Italian Italian
2640 The Palm At The End Of The Mind Wallace Stevens 1971 American English
2648 Gemini Michel Tournier 1975 French French
2687 Blinding Mircea Cărtărescu 1996 Romanian Romanian
2692 Near To The Wild Heart Clarice Lispector 1943 Brazilian Portuguese
2724 The Book Of Questions Edmond Jabès 1963 French French
2834 The Unpleasant Profession Of Jonathan Hoag Robert A. Heinlein 1942 American English
2880 Septology Jon Fosse 2019 Norwegian Norwegian
2966 A Dream Play August Strindberg 1902 Swedish Swedish
3008 Wittgenstein's Mistress David Markson 1988 American English
3052 The Sinful Ones Fritz Leiber 1953 American English
3160 Natural Novel Georgi Gospodinov 1999 Bulgarian Bulgarian
3189 Trilce César Vallejo 1922 Peruvian Spanish
3203 When We Cease To Understand The World Adrian Nathan West, Benjamin Labatut 2020 Chilean Spanish
3289 On Being And Essence Thomas Aquinas 1256 Italian Latin
3381 Like Life Lorrie Moore 1990 American English
3382 Poems Miguel de Unamuno 1907 Spanish Spanish
3421 Daylight Czesław Miłosz 1975 Polish Polish
3551 The Cloven Viscount Italo Calvino 1952 Italian Italian
3606 A Throw Of The Dice Will Never Abolish Chance Stéphane Mallarmé 1897 French French
3637 Hydriotaphia, Urn Burial Sir Thomas Browne 1658 British English
3637 Renascence and Other Poems Edna St. Vincent Millay 1917 American English
3637 The Temptation To Exist Emil Cioran 1956 Romanian French
3848 Piranesi Susanna Clarke 2020 British English
3939 Landscapes With Absent Figures Philippe Jacottet 1970 French French
3953 Amorgos Nikos Gatsos 1943 Greek Greek
3953 The Axion Esti Odysseas Elytis 1959 Greek Greek
3953 Ποιήματα Α' και Β' Miltos Sachtouris 1945 Greek Greek
3953 The Poems Of Dinos Christianopoulos Dinos Christianopoulos 1958 Greek Greek
4123 Either Or Soren Kierkegaard 1843 Danish Danish
4134 The Nonexistent Knight Italo Calvino 1959 Italian Italian
4137 Το Μυθιστόρημα της Κυρίας Έρσης Nikos-Gabriel Pentzikis 1966 Greek Greek
4153 Collected Poems Nils Ferlin 1947 Swedish Swedish
4162 No One Is Talking About This Patricia Lockwood 2021 American English
4178 De Kellner En De Levenden Simon Vestdijk 1949 Dutch Dutch
4227 Each Day Catches Fire Imants Ziedonis 1978 Latvian Latvian
4267 Cases Daniil Kharms 1939 Russian Russian
4278 Fallen Leaves Vasily Rozanov 1913 Russian Russian
4281 Air Of Solitude Gustave Roud 1945 Swiss French
4287 Gantenbein Max Frisch 1964 Swiss German
4436 In Dreams Begin Responsibilities And Other Stories Delmore Schwartz 1938 American English
4543 The Collected Poems Of Odysseus Elytis Odysseas Elytis 1971 Greek Greek
4565 Mortal y rosa Francisco Umbral 1975 Spanish Spanish
4594 Man in the Holocene Max Frisch 1979 Swiss German
4596 The Fourth Dimension Yannis Ritsos 1972 Greek Greek
4709 Grimus Salman Rushdie 1975 British English
4757 Claros Del Bosque María Zambrano 1977 Spanish Spanish
4954 The Centaur Algernon Blackwood 1911 British English
4980 New Poems Rainer Maria Rilke 1907 German German
5022 Dying As A Country Dimitris Dimitriadis 1978 Greek Greek
5022 Στην Κοιλαδα Με Τους Ροδωνες Nikos Engonopoulos 1978 Greek Greek
5124 Maria Nephele Odysseas Elytis 1979 Greek Greek
5240 Abschied Johannes R. Becher 1974 German German
5325 White Light Rudy Rucker 1980 American English
5485 Body Rags Galway Kinnell 1968 American English
5499 Does God Exist? Hans Küng 1978 German German
5706 Ο Λουσίας Nikos Houliaras 1987 Greek Greek
5731 Time And Space Juan Ramón Jiménez 1988 Spanish Spanish
5772 Χαιρε Ποτε Kiki Dimoula 1988 Greek Greek
5780 The Serpent Luigi Malerba 1966 Italian Italian
5860 Centuries, Poems, And Thanksgivings Thomas Traherne 1903 British English
5860 Selected Poetry Rainer Maria Rilke 1902 German German
5898 Parables, Fragments, Aphorisms Franz Kafka 1935 Czech German
5915 Hard Labor Cesare Pavese 1938 Italian Italian
5910 Poems Of Fernando Pessoa Fernando Pessoa 1942 Portuguese Portuguese
5932 Look At Me Now And Here I Am Gertrude Stein 1967 American Unknown
6002 Les Métamorphoses Du Cercle Georges Poulet 1961 Belgian French
6002 Madness Of The Day Maurice Blanchot 1949 French French
6002 No One's Rose Paul Celan 1963 German German
6002 Someone Robert Pinget 1965 French French
6002 The Pine Wood Notebook Francis Ponge 1947 French French
6142 Oreille Rouge Eric Chevillard 1993 French French